Below, you'll find some guidelines to getting set up and getting started on writing for this wiki. Our hosting site, wikispaces, also has some basic how-to guidelines for writing and editing text, importing media and other kinds of files, and formatting the page under the "Help" link at the upper right of this page.
As you work through the material below, you may find it helpful to open a second browser page (or tab) to test things out as you read about them.
Getting Set Up
REGISTER WITH WIKISPACES: To work on this wiki, you'll first need to register yourself with wikispaces, at http://www.wikispaces.com. You'll need to create a user name and a password. So that we know who you are, I'd prefer that your user name is recognizably related to your actual name (my username is ryanjerving). This step is like setting up a Facebook account.
JOIN THE SITE: When next you visit our ENGL 2720 "All Play" wiki site, click on the "sign in" link in the upper right corner of the page. Next, click on the "my account" link that will show up next to your user name, and on the "Dashboard" tab that will show up on the page that comes up. Next, type "all-play" into the "Add a wiki to this list:" search box on the page, and click on the result that the search will turn up. Finally, pull down the "Action" menu on the right side of the page and select the "Join this Wiki" option. This step is like searching for someone on Facebook, and then sending a friend request.
REQUEST MEMBERSHIP: When you select "Join this Wiki" in the step before this one, you will be directed to a new page with one big button that you will click to request membership. Once you do so, you will see a message that says: "Your request to join all-play has been sent to the wiki organizers." At that point, an e-mail will be sent to me asking me to confirm your membership, to which I will then reply "yes." (In other words, since there is some human involvement here, this part will not be instant.) This step is like having someone confirm your Facebook friend request.
POST OR EDIT ON THE SITE: Once I've received and replied to your membership request, you will be able to write and edit anywhere on the site (including the discussion boards). To do so, sign in when you visit the site to change the big "PROTECTED" link (next to the pencil) to "EDIT". For things other than replying to the discussion boards, this "Edit" button is what you click on to open up any given page for adding or revising text, uploading images, linking to videos and other external sites, etc.This step is like sending messages, posting status updates, or uploading photos/videos to Facebook.
Adding or Editing Content
To edit
"Sign in " (link in upper right corner of screen) when you're ready to contribute material to pages or edit them, create pages or links to pages, or post to the discussion boards.
To edit , click the big green-trimmed "Edit" button to the upper right of the page text.
You can also start a new page of your own (click "New Page" on the menu to the left of this page). The page will open up in a way that will look like a word processing document, and you can write and format your text in much the same way as you would in Word any other such program.
REMEMBER to save your changes once you've made them using the "Save" button you'll find on the floating menu above your edited work. (It can be helpful to the next writer if you pull down the "Save" menu and select "Save with comment" -- this gives you a chance to leave a note about your contribution that will show up on the page's history log. Click the "history" tab on the toolbar above to see what this looks like.)
Tracking your work
HISTORY: A wiki not only allows its users to make changes to the pages, it also keeps track of those changes and -- and this is important -- keeps all the previous versions of all pages. This means that you don't have to worry about permanently undoing someone else's work or about someone else accidentally deleting yours. We can always revert to the version of the page from before the mistake. Click "history" on the toolbar above to see what this looks like.
NOTIFICATION: Note that, if you like, you can set an individual page to send you an email when its content has been changed, with the changed text included in the email. This can be very useful if you are using the wiki to work on a group project (click the "notify" tab above the page).
YOUR STATISTICS: For the end of the semester, when you'll be reflecting on your participation and writing up those reflections, you may find it useful to see a record of all your edits and posts to this site. You can link to this under the "Manage Wiki" top menu bar item, under the "Wiki Statistics" tool, and the "Member" button of those statistics. (Be sure to "Set Dates" for "2011 Summary" to get the full semester record.)
Some Tips
Three things to make your life easier in working with this wiki:
WORK WHEN OTHERS AREN'T: If someone else already has the page open for editing, a notice will pop up telling you that when you try to "Edit" the page. If this happens, cancel out and come back later. Otherwise, only the changes made by the last person to close out the page will be preserved, and either yours -- or theirs -- will be lost in space as though they had never existed.
SAVE OFTEN: See above.
IF YOU CUT-AND-PASTE, USE NOTEPAD: or some other formatting-free way of drafting text. If you try to cut and past from, say, Microsoft Word, you'll get all sorts of weird stuff dragged along into the wiki page.
Table of Contents
As you work through the material below, you may find it helpful to open a second browser page (or tab) to test things out as you read about them.
Getting Set Up
Adding or Editing Content
To edit
"Sign in " (link in upper right corner of screen) when you're ready to contribute material to pages or edit them, create pages or links to pages, or post to the discussion boards.
Tracking your work
HISTORY: A wiki not only allows its users to make changes to the pages, it also keeps track of those changes and -- and this is important -- keeps all the previous versions of all pages. This means that you don't have to worry about permanently undoing someone else's work or about someone else accidentally deleting yours. We can always revert to the version of the page from before the mistake. Click "history" on the toolbar above to see what this looks like.
NOTIFICATION: Note that, if you like, you can set an individual page to send you an email when its content has been changed, with the changed text included in the email. This can be very useful if you are using the wiki to work on a group project (click the "notify" tab above the page).
YOUR STATISTICS: For the end of the semester, when you'll be reflecting on your participation and writing up those reflections, you may find it useful to see a record of all your edits and posts to this site. You can link to this under the "Manage Wiki" top menu bar item, under the "Wiki Statistics" tool, and the "Member" button of those statistics. (Be sure to "Set Dates" for "2011 Summary" to get the full semester record.)
Some Tips
Three things to make your life easier in working with this wiki: